Joe wrote:
We use some decent flat head screws on our units and I've run into a
strange
problem. When we tighten them into the aluminum housings, they hold
a
galvanized plate in place. After about 10 minutes of being on there,
they
are almost impossible to get off.

We have turned the highest quality allen keys we can find into
pretzels and
have stripped many using impact and a shorter length. Sometimes we
have
success by using a chisel to "spin" the flat head loose but that's
the
Neanderthal method I'd like to avoid... Even that fails 50% of the
time.
We can't use heat because there is a rubber seal in the aluminum very
close.

The flat head actually grabs onto the galv. plate so well that our
customers
(and us!) have to drill them out 8 out of 10 times we need to remove
them...

Anyone know of a super allen key or some other method of removing
these that
might work? We know that when we use painted plates, we have less of
a
problem and have considered painting the countersink of each flat
head hole,
but that's crazy in the big scheme of things...

Sounds like you need to talk to your materials engineer. The specs. may
need to be changed.
Bugs

Thoughts, wisdom and random visits from friends welcome.

Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
http://www.autodrill.com
http://www.multi-spindle-heads.com

V8013

My eBay: http://tinyurl.com/4hpnc